Lauren Williams is an Australian freelance journalist based in Turkey. She is the former Middle East Editor at The Daily Star, Lebanon, and the former Managing Editor of Forward Magazine, Syria. Before moving to the region she was a staff reporter at The Daily Telegraph, Sydney. She has reported from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar for The Telegraph UK, The Guardian, Al Jazeera English, USA Today, ABC News, The Saturday Paper and The National, among others.